The present invention relates to a machine to last the heel region of a shoe or other footwear upper.
Attention is called to U.S. Pat. No. 4,660,242 (Vornberger et al) wherein there is disclosed an activator for heating and shaping the heel portion of a shoe upper (in this specification reference is made mostly to shoes, but the invention has relevance to footwear more broadly), the heel portion being heated and then stretched about a mold having a back portion approximately the ultimate shape of the shoe heel portion. The heated upper is, then, typically transferred to a heel molder flanger (HMF) of the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,709,433 (Walega) and the further a prior art cited (e.g., the bulletins of record). The heel molder flanger has a cooled mold to receive the heated upper whose back portion approximates the ultimate shape of the heel of the ultimate shoe. The word "approximates" is emphasized here, because the mold of the HMF is used for many, many different shoe styles and shapes, as well as left shoes and right shoes; hence, in most cases it is only near to the shape of the last which corresponds to the ultimate shape of the finally-fabricated shoe. The industry long has sought a way to form the heel portion of the shoe upper to the exact shape of the ultimate shoe.
A heel molder to fulfill these requirements is disclosed in an patent application Ser. No. 278,983 filed Dec. 2, 1988 (Becka et al), which is a CIP of Ser. No. 186,417 filed Apr. 26, 1988. The present invention, on the other hand, is directed to heel lasting, rather than heel molding, per se. The system herein disclosed performs, generally, the functions disclosed in the Becka et al application Ser. No. 278,983, but it performs, as well, lasting, that is, adherence of a footwear margin onto the outer surface of an insole, which insole typically is disposed on and secured to a last.
See U.S. Pat. No. 4,679,269 (Becka et al) and art cited therein for a heel laster.